{"id":31362,"date":"2023-10-02T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/expert-says-wet-winter-is-the-cause-of-delay-in-fall-colors\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:39:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:39:36","slug":"expert-says-wet-winter-is-the-cause-of-delay-in-fall-colors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/expert-says-wet-winter-is-the-cause-of-delay-in-fall-colors\/","title":{"rendered":"Expert says wet winter is the cause of delay in fall colors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A car surrounded by changing aspens drives out of Old Lime Creek Road on Friday north of Durango. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The fall colors are on delay this year, but this could be for good reason, said Fort Lewis College biology professor and forest ecology expert Julie Korb.<\/p>\n

Every year, nearing the end of September, the aspen trees of Southwest Colorado bring shades of reds, yellows and oranges to the forests.<\/p>\n

But this year, it appears Mother Nature is taking her time.<\/p>\n

Korb says this is a result of last year\u2019s moist winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve seen is that we get the best color when we have a wet growing season followed by dry falls,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

However, because of last winter\u2019s moisture with a little help from late monsoon showers, Korb says the aspen leaves are losing their chlorophyll at a slower rate.<\/p>\n

The process of the leaves changing colors involves three main factors: leaf pigment, nighttime length and weather.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe aspen queue to the length of daytime from when they put on their first leaves,\u201d Korb said.<\/p>\n

\"Dale
Dale Piers of Loveland takes a photo of colorful aspen trees on the way up Coal Bank Pass on Friday north of Durango. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

When the days start to get shorter, aspen trees stop transporting water and nutrients to the leaves. However, the leaves\u2019 pigment is determined by weather from the previous winter leading up to the spring when they start to grow back.<\/p>\n

Korb said the intensity of the yellow color given off by the changing seasons is set from the beginning of their life cycle based on the amount of moisture the tree received during the previous winter.<\/p>\n

But once leaves start to photosynthesize and create chlorophyll, the chlorophyll masks the yellow color.<\/p>\n

\u201cNormally what happens this time of year is that the nights start to get longer and the plant isn\u2019t photosynthesizing as much,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

This means less chlorophyll is being produced by the leaves, revealing the yellow color.<\/p>\n

Because of the moisture received this year, however, the trees are healthy and continuing to photosynthesize for a longer period.<\/p>\n

Although it was a drier summer compared to the winter, Korb said this past year\u2019s snowfall in combination with late summer and fall storms were enough to keep the aspen trees healthy.<\/p>\n

She reiterated that the delay in color change is not a bad thing and it\u2019s actually positive to see the trees photosynthesizing longer.<\/p>\n

But there are some areas like Silverton that are experiencing more color change at lower elevations compared to areas like Molas Pass and Coal Bank Pass.<\/p>\n

Korb hypothesized that this was a result of a temperature inversion. She said the common thought is to believe it\u2019s colder at higher elevation, which would drive the leaves to change color in higher elevations first.<\/p>\n

\"Aspen
Aspen trees change into their fall colors Friday near Coal Bank Pass north of Durango. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

However, she says cold air sinks at night, which creates an inversion of warm air at the higher elevations. Because Silverton is tucked away in a valley, it creates a cold air drainage where colder air can sit at night.<\/p>\n

She added that it\u2019s created by the area experiencing warm fall temperatures and that if the temperatures were colder, this wouldn\u2019t be a factor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t really predict. It\u2019s basically Mother Nature\u2019s time clock that is dictating what\u2019s happening,\u201d said San Juan Mountain Association Visitor Services Director J Bernite.<\/p>\n

Bernite said peak colors could show around Oct. 8 or Oct. 9.<\/p>\n

He suggested people check out areas between Coal Bank Pass and Silverton, Red Mountain Pass and areas near Lizard Head Pass as some the prime viewing spots.<\/p>\n

He also said County Road 42 in Mancos State Park was another great viewing area.<\/p>\n

The changing of the aspen leaves marks the last big surge of tourists before Southwest Colorado goes into its shoulder season before the winter.<\/p>\n

Business Improvement District Executive Director Tim Walsworth said that downtown ambassador interactions with out-of-town visitors have been about the same this fall compared with 2022.<\/p>\n

This likely means that the lack of color change hasn\u2019t really impacted traffic in town.<\/p>\n

Walsworth said that it\u2019s been a down summer for downtown spending.<\/p>\n

\"Gambel
Gambel oak in a mix of aspen trees change color in the 416 Fire burn area Friday north of Hermosa. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cThe volume of people was high and good for summer, like we expect,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the spending behaviors appeared different. And by different I mean that folks were not spending as much money as they had in the past on items.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that fall tourism brings in a different demographic \u2013 it tends to favor older couples, he said.<\/p>\n

This means businesses may experience different customer spending habits in the fall compared to the summer.<\/p>\n

\"A
A colorful aspen grove is seen on the way up Coal Bank Pass on Friday north of Durango. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Friday\u2019s San Juan National Forest Colors Report:<\/div>\n
San Juan Skyway<\/div>\n
Durango to Purgatory: MinimalPurgatory to Coal Bank: PatchyCoal Bank to Molas Pass: PatchyMolas Pass to Silverton: Partial to Near PeakSilverton area: Partial to Near Peak Silverton to Red Mountain Pass: PartialRed Mountain Pass to Ouray: Partial to Near PeakOuray to Telluride (Dallas Divide): PatchyTelluride to Rico: Patchy to Partial Rico to Dolores: PatchyMancos Area: Minimal \u2013 aspens \/ Near Peak \u2013 shrubbery\/undergrowth<\/div>\n
Other Areas<\/div>\n
Pagosa Springs: PatchyMissionary Ridge: PatchyLa Plata Canyon: Minimal<\/div>\n

tbrown@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

yellow a sign of healthy aspen trees<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31363,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[120,950,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-31362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado","tag-durango","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31362"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81415,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31362\/revisions\/81415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31362"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=31362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}